Thanksgiving Potluck

Because Seth and I are going to his parents on the 26th and 27th for Thanksgiving. I decided to host a Thanksgiving Potluck for all of our friends on the 25th. I'm going to take care of the turkey, and I'm having my friends bring the remaining dinner menu. I'm really excited about it. We already have 17 confirmed guests, and there is still a week to go.

This is the Turkey Recipe I'm going to use. It's Alton Brown's.. So you know its good. I'm going to have to double the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
• 1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
• 1 gallon iced water

For the aromatics:

• 1 red apple, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup water
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 6 leaves sage
• Canola oil

Directions

Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.

Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.

Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.

Thanksgiving Plans

This year is a first for me, I have been invited to Seth's Hometown for Thanksgiving. It is a delicate situation because his parents are divorced, and I would have to spend time partly at one and partly at the other. I was invited by his parents. I'm really proud of Seth for even mentioning the invitation. There were rumors of me going last Christmas, but here we are almost one year later.

I'm excited and uneasy at the same time.I've met his parents once before, individually and for small increments of time. They are very nice people. This is like 2 days full exposer. I'm so afraid I will say something weird or off color, and they will take offense, or I'll be too meek. When I'm nervous, I really can't account for all my actions. Oh goodness, I just remembered something I'm going to meet his brother. I've never met his brother. It's thanksgiving...There is going to be other family, like Aunts and Uncles, Cousins and friends. I think I'm hyperventilating. It's going to be okay. It's going to be great. Well at least I get two chances two get it right.

Solid as Barack!!

January twentieth, two-thousand and nine, Barack Obama will assume the position of presidency. Obama, the son of a Kenyan immigrant and Kansas Native, is truly the American Dream.

I feel like this is the beginning of a new era in human history. One in which the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. are coming to fruition. I'm happy to be alive in this coming of times. This Landmark event is something you can proudly tell your grandchildren about, exactly where you were, the dilemmas of the time out weighing the racial tensions held by our country for hundreds of years. Today is the first time, in a long time, I can say I am Proud to be an American.

They want to eat your BRAINS!

"Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master. So He can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a Rib-Woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree. ... Yeah. Makes perfect sense."



Yesterday, My friend Jessica and I went to Christ Temple Church for Judgment House. I had never been. I assumed it was some sort of Haunted House that, however, was not the case. It was a cult recruiting vehicle. It was one of the single most creepy moments of my entire life. Jess had gone before, and she knew what she was up against. I, however, was blind sided with brow beating religious nonsense. It sort of felt like Auschwitz or a Slaughter house. They herded us along with sixty other people from room to room, preaching absolute ridiculousness; the rooms, mind you, were made for a party of twenty at most. I kept having this creeping suspicion they were going to gas us or give us "refreshments" of Kool-aid.

I want to be Cryogenically frozen until most of humanity realizes that religion is a crutch. Some people need that crutch; they need to know they are not alone, but brainwashing the lot of us into believing that Christianity and Judaism are anything more than an ancient way of instilling fear upon the ignorant, gullible masses is criminal. Why can't good people just do good things for the sake of being good, not the fear of internal damnation? Here's the secret of the After Life... You don't live forever ... You die... You rot.. you get eaten by worms. Don't believe me? Kill yourself and find out. Okay, maybe that was a tad harsh. How about you wait the entirety of your lifespan and send me an e-mail or something if you find out otherwise.

A picture is worth a thousand words

1. Go to www.photobucket.com (don't sign in)
2. Type in your answer to the question in the "search" box
3. Copy the html of your favorite picture and paste for the answer

Question #1
What's your first name?












#2
What is your relationship status?




#3
What is your favorite color?


#4
Who is your celebrity crush?



#5

What band are you listening to right now?






#6
What is your favorite movie?


#7
Who is your favorite character from said favorite movie?



#8
Name an alcoholic beverage.



#9
Where is your dream vacation to?



#10
What is your favorite dessert?


#11
What do you want to be when you grow up?


#12

What do you love most in life?


#13
Name one word to describe yourself.


#14
What is you future mode of transportation?


#15
Favorite food?


#16
What's your middle name?



#17
If you could be any where in the world where would you be?

#18
Favorite cartoon character?



#19

What's something funny?



#20
Something you can't live without is?

Aquariums and Troubleshooting

Seth and I have recently invested efforts into an Aquarium. It's small, 14gallons, but promising. Seth is more invested than I am, because he invested with his pockets. It's sort of his thing, his aquarium. I'd like to be more involved, but I feel the aquarium is symbolic. It's like it's his personal space, his world in which he may play god. He gets to decide the fate of all within. I figure it's good for him to play such a game. Sometimes he feels out of control, unsure of his decisions and accomplishments, unsure of what's to come. I think subconsciously he sees the aquarium as a release. So I am content to watch from the side as he works his life out, toiling over the aquarium. I care for nothing but his happiness.

After purchasing the Aquarium, We(He) rinsed the supplies, filled the tank and let it sit for a day. The next day, we visited Bert's Pet World. There were multiple aquarium types to choose from, but the perfect type for us, Tropical Freshwater. Simon and George, two black, long fin Tetras were suddenly our new house guests. However, These two fish seemed not to enjoy our presence, constantly hiding behind the massive rock in the middle of the aquarium. We thought with time they would come around, but that does not seem to be the case. Two Swordtail fish: one male, one female, were our next purchase. They seem to be more active, both swimming around with nothing to fear. Seth has grown bored of the entire ordeal. Sadly, now he is plotting their demise, talking of new fish to come such as: Cichlids, Oscars and Piranhas. These aggressive fish are probably just verbal threats to those fish he finds upsetting. Although I wouldn't feel too save George, Simon, Pete and Madge. It's only a matter of time until he releases an aggressor into this tank full of peace.